By Gudrun Schultz
EDMONTON, Alberta, April 3, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Alberta judge has ruled that adults can legally have obscene sexual conversations with children, so long as they don’t try to meet the child.
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Justice John Agrios acquitted a 32-year-old man of the charge of Internet luring on Friday, saying the explicit sexual chatting he carried on with a 12-year-old Ontario girl in 2003 was not illegal because he did not arrange a meeting with the girl. The accused, Christopher Legare, said he didn’t intend to meet the girl, although he talked to her about having sex and called her parents’ home.
“The conduct, as morally reprehensible as it is, is not caught by the legislation,” said Agrios. “I simply cannot find an indication the accused was luring the child.”
Crown prosecutor Steve Bilodeau, who specializes in Internet crimes, argued Legare’s obscene text conversations with the child were part of a “grooming” process online predators use to encourage children to meet, reported the Star Phoenix Saturday.
Justice Agrios did not agree. He said there must be direct questions about the child’s home situation, suggested meetings, or questions about the child running away before the conversation would constitute luring under the 2002 Internet luring law.
The girl’s father, who contacted police after discovering her conversations with Legare, told the Canadian Press he was sickened by the ruling.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…my stomach is turning,” he said.
To express concerns to Alberta’s Minister of Justice Ron Stevens:
(403) 216-5421
(780) 422-6621
[email protected]